Saturday, September 17, 2011

When there's some trash talk going on in the NFL it usually isn't the kicker being the player doing the talking. Dallas Cowboys kicker David Buehler doesn't follow that unwritten protocol.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ted Ginn singlehandedly saved the 49ers in their season opener with a kick and punt return for touchdowns. Buehler seems to think that if Ginn getys his hands on the ball, the Cowboys need to hit him in the mouth.

"If the wind is at my back, hopefully I'll get the green light and be able to kick a touchback and keep it out of Ted Ginn's hands because he is a dangerous returner," Cowboys kicker David Buehler said. "As long as you hit him in the mouth earlier, I think he might give up."

Considering that Buehler only had one touchback in five attempts last week, the Cowboys might get that chance.

Michael Vick will be making a homecoming of sorts this Sunday when the Philadelphia Eagles square off against the Atlanta Falcons. For those who remember, Vick started his career with the Falcons before a dog fighting scandal derailed his career for a few years.

Former Falcons head coach Dan Reeves was at the helm when Vick was drafted number one overall in 2001. Reeves had been accused of holding Vick back in his formative years in the NFL. Vick had been accused of ending Reeves' coaching life in Atlanta.

Even though Reeves was burned by Vick, an article in the Philadelphia Daily News indicates that the two are friendly with each other and send each other text messages. Reeves had some things to say about Vick and the Falcons organization. He feels that in Vick's darkest moment that the Falcons turned their back on him.

“When Mike really needed them they turned their back on him in my opinion,” said Reeves. “They could have been a big supporter and they let him go. I think it could have been handled differently.

“I wasn’t there so I don’t know the organization’s standpoint, but I thought they could have been more supportive and instead they severed ties with him.”

Vick doesn't see it that way and has accepted full responsiblity for his actions. Falcons owner Arthur Blank felt that Vick brought it upon himself, but yet lobbied for Vick to get a second chance in the NFL.

“He has let down his fans and his team. He has damaged the reputation of our club and the entire National Football League, and betrayed the trust of many people,” said Falcons owner Arthur Blank in the summer of 2007.

“Only he can answer why he did what he did. At the end of the day he put himself in this position, and the responsibility for doing so rests on his shoulders.”

Vick says he still has respect for Blank, which proves that he harbors no ill feelings about the way the whole ordeal was handled by the Falcons.

“I’m pretty sure every guy in that organization has the utmost respect for him, and I still do,” said Vick of Blank. “I always wish him nothing but the best. I still care about him and I love him unconditionally, and it will always be that way.”

My personal opinion about what Reeves said is that Blank tried to stand by Vick as long as he could. Vick still respects Blank for treating him more like a family member than an employee. When a family member does something wrong, you still support them but in different ways. Blank supported Vick by telling league officials that he should get a second chance, he just couldn't stand by him with the dogfighting scandal hanging over his head.

David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez seemed inseperable during their time together as teammates with the Boston Red Sox. Ortiz and Ramirez might have been the most dyanamic one-two punch in Major League Baseball during their time in the same lineup. They were best friends and you could tell by the way they interacted with each other.

That's probably why Ortiz said that he is "shocked and disappointed" by Ramirez's recent actions. If you remember, Ramirez was suspended for 100 games for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy a second time. Ramirez abruptly retired five games into the season on April 8. Ramirez was recently arrested for domestic violence.

Just like any other professional athlete faced with a life of normalcy, if you can call it that, Ramirez doesn't know what to do with himself. Something that Ortiz touched on in a recent interview.

"To be honest with you, I've talked to some guys and when it comes down to retirement, even when they get prepared to do it, once they do it they're not ready for it," Ortiz said Friday. "And in Manny's situation he retired from the game when nobody expected it, so I think it has to be a little hard for him just chilling and not playing the game that he loved.

"I mean, I'm not using that as an excuse for him to do what he did because you can never go that far. I've only heard comments about what happened and I don't really know, nobody really knows what happened behind closed doors at his house. But everybody knows you cannot go that far and let that happen. Everybody knows how we, as humans, look at that."

"When it comes down to the game, I can't imagine how he feels about not playing," Ortiz said. "He knows it's all his fault. He can't blame nobody but himself, so it might get even worse. When you can blame it on somebody else you at least have an argument but when you know it's all your fault it's got to be even harder."

"It has to be [difficult]," Ortiz said. "The last time we talked was when we played each other in spring training. Manny's a hard guy to reach. I think it'll be easy for me to get in touch with Obama than it would be to get in touch with Manny. I would like to at some point and see how he's doing."

Ortiz also expressed his disappointment with Ramirez regarding the domestic violence sllegations surrounding him. Obvioulsy this is something Ortiz never thought would happen.

"They are a beautiful couple and they have great kids and a beautiful family, so hopefully they figure things out and he realizes that what he did was wrong," Ortiz said. "He needs to regroup with his family and have a good life.

"He had a wonderful career, and it didn't end the way he wanted it to, but he still had a great career. You marry your wife one day because you think that's the right person to be right next to. Now that you need her the most, you don't want to be going through things like that. It's easier said than done, but Manny's a good dude. He's not a bad person. I hope everything works out for him and his family."

Manny needs to reevaluate what's important to him right now. He's lost without the game of baseball and it's starting to show. Witness the way he handled the media when they tried to interview him outside of his house. He needs to realize who cares about him. Ortiz has tried to reach out to him. It's about time he returned the favor.